This statement returns a syntax error. But I get what you mean. For

  if (a := 1) or (b := 1):
    print(locals())

since a is truthy, it gets bound and is in scope, whereas b is not, which makes sense to me.

To understand that you need to understand “if”, “or” and assignment expressions. You think this is hard to understand, and that’s fair, but the hard point here isn’t the assignment expression, it’s the short circuiting or-statement. You’d have the same issues with debugging “if f() or g():...”

So are you arguing that the language should not have short-circuit or-statements?

That just seems like you are sacrificing tons of usability only to slightly improve on the expectations of those who are just starting python, like the first 1-2weeks of trying to learn it.

I believe or has higher precedence than := in this case thus the syntax error. Wrapping := in parentheses, like the other commenter suggested, resolves the issue.